Method, system, and computer readable storage for affiliate group searching

ABSTRACT

A method for allowing an information seeker to utilize affiliate group searching involving human searchers who are members of particular information affiliate groups. Each affiliate group has an area of expertise in which they are particularly skilled. In at least one embodiment, the method includes accepting designation of an affiliate group for providing information searching and presenting search results produced by a member of the affiliate group to an information seeker.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is related to and claims the benefit of priority toProvisional Application U.S. Ser. No. 60/821,612, Attorney Docket No.1918.1021P, entitled “METHOD, SYSTEM, AND COMPUTER READABLE STORAGE FORAFFILIATE GROUP SEARCHING”, by Scott A. Jones, filed Aug. 7, 2006 in theU.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the contents of which are incorporatedherein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The embodiments discussed herein relate, generally, to informationsearching, and more specifically, to a method for information searchingemploying human searchers belonging to affiliate groups.

2. Description of the Related Art

In an information searching system including human searchers or guides,such as described in application Ser. No. 11/336,928, entitled, “AScalable Search System Using Human Searchers”, by Scott A. Jones, filedJan. 23, 2006 incorporated by reference herein, the informationsearching may be divided according to keywords and/or categories. Suchorganization is often necessary due to the vast amount of informationthat can be searched to enable the information to be managed in anefficient manner. For example, a first information searcher may beresponsible for performing any searching related to a first keyword, anda second information searcher may be responsible for performing anysearching related to a second keyword.

Although organizing the searchers according to keywords and categoriescan allow them to become knowledgeable in searching informationpertaining to the assigned keyword(s) or category(ies), the knowledgegained is often not enough to allow the searchers to become “expert”searchers, due to the vastness of the information pertaining to thecategory(ies) or keyword(s). For example, although the category“Basketball” can be viewed as a smaller subset of the informationrelated to the category “Sports”, the subset category “Basketball” is,nevertheless, a relatively large field of search. The subset may includeinformation related to “NCAA Basketball”, “NBA Basketball”, “CIAABasketball”, and so forth.

Similarly, although the keyword, “NFL Football” can be considered asubset of the broader keyword “football”, the subset includesinformation related to NFL teams, NFL players, NFL history, NFL rules,and so forth. As a result of the vastness of the information includedwithin a subset, a searcher can experience difficulty in becoming an“expert” in searching information related to a particular keyword,category, topic, etc. in addition, the nature of a group of searchers(e.g., Peyton Manning fans) might influence the result(s) which theyobtain. An information seeker might request results produced bysearcher(s) associated with such an affinity.

There is also the issue of a user (also referred to as an Infoseeker™)being connected with a searcher (also referred to as a guide) who is ofa different demographic and/or world view. For example, a college-agefemale Infoseeker™ looking for information related to “Pink Floyd” mightbe connected to a 50-something male Infoseeker™ who has a significantlydifferent worldview. Even though the information returned may betechnically correct, the social aspect of a human-assisted search maynot be fully leveraged. For this reason, it may be desirable to allow aninformation seeker to access searchers and/or search results which havebeen provided by a group of searchers that share a set of commoncharacteristics. It may further be desirable to the affiliate groupmembers to seek searches due to the nature of the characteristics whichthey share. For example a group of medical professionals who believe in‘the right to choose’ may receive searches relating to women's healthissues which would otherwise be sent to a general search.

In addition to the above-identified problem, although searchers may beassigned to particular keywords and categories, the searchers may nothave a genuine interest in the topic for which they are registered toperform searches. A searcher may select a topic area due to a highfrequency of queries by information seekers relating to that topic, dueto increased earning opportunities. As a result, the searchers may notbe as effective as they could be were they genuinely interested in thetopic. In order to improve the relevant skills and share informationregarding search resources and/or methods for obtaining information on aspecialized area of interest it may be useful to build cooperativeand/or competitive communities of searchers. Such affiliate groups couldwork as teams to produce a result for a search query and share in thecompensation.

Further, in some instances, information seekers have a need and/ordesire to obtain search results pertaining to sensitive information thatmay not be available in standard databases and systems to which thepublic has access. For example, an information seeker desiring to searchinformation regarding an endangered species may require services of asearcher who has access and authorization to search restricted and/orproprietary information databases and systems to retrieve suchinformation. Heretofore, information search systems did not employ humansearchers having the required specialized knowledge, access to, andauthorization to search such information.

Some existing information search networks may already exist, such astravel agents, librarians, medical professionals (e.g., phone a nurse),and others. Such organizations may have competencies and/or access toresources unavailable to the general public, but it is difficult for aconventional search system employing automated search techniques toprovide access to and indexing of resources provided by such anaffiliate network.

For these many reasons a method for enabling affiliate group searchingusing human searchers in which access control may be exercised forinformation seekers and/or human searchers seeking access to such searchservices would be greatly appreciated.

SUMMARY

In light of the foregoing, what is needed is an information searchmethod and system employing human searchers (sometimes referred to asguides or producers or providers or workers) who belong to affiliategroups.

The embodiments disclosed herein allow an information seeker to utilizeaffiliate group searching involving human searchers who are members ofparticular information affiliate groups. Each affiliate group may havean area of expertise in which they are particularly skilled, or eachaffiliate group may have a shared set of characteristics such as age,gender, sexual preference, geographic locale, language, politicalpersuasion, career, club, educational background, hobby, or othercharacteristic that bonds the affiliate group together, even if onlyloosely.

An affiliate group might involve simply membership in or having a looseaffiliation with websites, such as MySpace® or Facebook®. In at leastone embodiment, a method for providing affiliate group searchingincludes accepting designation of an affiliate group for providinginformation searching and presenting search results produced by a memberof the affiliate group to an information seeker (sometimes referred toas a user or requester or Infoseeker™).

A searcher might opt in or opt out of an affiliate group in much thesame way that people elect to join a club, professional organization orsocial group. Searchers may also be organized into affiliate groupsbased on information provided to the search system during or afterregistration which would indicate particular affiliations.

Affiliate groups may be created and dissolved readily. The search systemmay allow groupings to be created by associating a group of searcherswith one or more keyword(s) which may be selected by the affiliategroup, or the system administrators to designate an affiliate group. Theaffiliate group may then select keywords and/or categories with whichthe group desires to be associated. Members of affiliate groups mayfurther be ranked within the group in order to establish a preferencefor a particular member who has relevant skill to reply to a searchquery. Likewise, affiliate groups may be ranked by their ability toproduce relevant results for a keyword, category, etc. In this way, aninformation seeker may locate an affiliate group most likely to producea relevant result for a query.

It is an aspect of the invention that an affiliate group may designateitems which are exclusively accessible to members of the affiliategroup. The items may include training materials, resources, softwareapplications, search result(s) and other items which may assist asearcher in performing a search.

It is an aspect of the invention that an existing network of affiliatemembers, who may be employees of a company, members of a web-basedinformation search network may be registered as guides within the searchsystem. Information from the current network may be used to create agroup and/or guide profile. This may enable the affiliate network tomore effectively market and/or utilize resources of the network withoutcompromising security of the data employed in their operations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Aspects and advantages of the embodiments will become apparent and morereadily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments,taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between affiliategroups and affiliate group searchers;

FIG. 2 is a system diagram;

FIG. 3 is an illustration of an affiliate group database;

FIG. 4 is an illustration of an affiliate group searcher database;

FIGS. 5 and 5A illustrate an authorization database;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram depicting a method of operation;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram depicting a method of operation;

FIGS. 8 and 8A illustrate a searcher registration web page;

FIG. 9 is an illustration of an affiliate group web page including asearch window driven by the search system;

FIG. 10 is an illustration of a search page accessible via the searchwindow presented in the affiliate group web page of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of a registration process;

FIG. 12 is an illustration of a graphical user interface (GUI);

FIG. 13 is an illustration of an alternate GUI for affiliate searchgroup selection;

FIG. 14 is an illustration of a searcher selection GUI;

FIG. 15 is an illustration of a GUI.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments, examples ofwhich are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein likereference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

As discussed herein, information seekers can select a specific affiliategroup to conduct information searching and provide search results inresponse to a search query(ies) from an information seeker(s). As anaffiliate group(s) might specialize in a particular field or category ofinformation, such a group(s) can be very effective in fielding searchqueries for particularly “difficult-to-find” information. In othercases, affiliate groups may allow for the human searchers to be moreconnected to information seekers because of their age, gender, sexualpreference, geographic locale, language, political persuasion, career,club, educational background, hobby, characteristic or affiliation thatbonds them, even if the bond is only a loose one. Examples ofaffiliations might be schools, colleges, charitable organizations,consumer-facing businesses such as Delta® Air Lines or any otherairlines, information service businesses, defense contractingbusinesses, government groups, clubs, social groups, online socialnetworks such as MySpace® or Facebook®, etc. In yet other cases, themembers of an affiliate group may have a highly specific membership suchas being employed by a company(ies), membership in an organization(s)(e.g., Society for Information Display, NRA, U.S. Army), or have specialaccess privileges for a resource such as for example a restricteddatabase (e.g., health care related information, unpublished research,company confidential information), thus such affiliate groups may bereferred to as a restricted access affiliate group.

In the embodiments described herein, designation of an interest groupfor providing information searching is described, and method forreceiving a search result(s) produced by a member of an affiliate groupis disclosed.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, according to at least one embodiment, humaninformation searchers responding to search queries from informationseekers are divided into affiliate groups (the terms affiliate group andinterest group are used herein interchangeably). An affiliate groupincludes one or more information searchers having “expertise” in aparticular field(s) of information searching in which the groupspecializes. “Expertise” as used in the previous sentence and as usedhereinafter, unless otherwise indicated, may, but does not necessarily,imply an elevated level of knowledge and/or education regarding asubject. “Expertise” as utilized herein may also include having afamiliarity with information resource(s) on a topic, access toresource(s) on a topic which are not generally available, a particularlyhigh interest in a topic, demonstrated capability (e.g., from competencytesting, or ratings by others familiar with a topic) or even aconfidence level in one's own ability to provide timely and/or accurateresponses to queries in an area regardless of prior knowledge of thearea. An “affiliate group” as the term is utilized herein, unlessotherwise specified, may include any group having members who have acommon interest in a subject matter, employees of a business entity,persons who live in or regularly visit a specific geographic location,current and former students and/or faculty members of an educationalinstitution(s), persons who share a common social bond, persons withcommon aspects to their demographic profiles and/or other groups formedaround a common interest in a subject matter. Thus an affiliate groupmay be all or any of the members of a non-profit or other charitableorganization, all or any of the employees of a corporation, a web-basedsocial or interest group or some other group or organization sharing acommon interest or common bond.

In at least one embodiment, an affiliate group may be based upon asocial connection. For example, if an affiliate group is comprised ofMySpace® members, then there may be a common bond among informationseekers and the searchers who are finding results for those informationseekers. Having a common worldview can be important when providing andaccessing human-assisted search results and services.

In at least one embodiment, information seekers may be provided with aconnection to a group such as flight attendants who by the nature of thejob know something about travel. Members of an affiliate group may havea focus of expertise within the subject matter associated with thegroup. For example, some flight attendants may sign-up to answer queriesabout Japan and/or Tokyo, some others might sign up for keywords such asRio and/or Brazil, depending upon travel experience and schedule.

For example, affiliate group A 105 (FIG. 1) (e.g., “Audubon Society”)includes information searcher A1 110 (e.g., “Bill Birdsong”),information searcher A2 115 (e.g., “Robin Finder”), and informationsearcher AX 120 (e.g., “Fred Finch”). The affiliate group A 105 mayspecialize in the field or category bird watching, for example, membersof the National Audubon Society. Members of the group could beparticularly helpful in assisting an information seeker who happened tobe looking out of his or her window and noticed a strangely colored birdor heard an unusual bird call. Not knowing the name of the bird or otheridentifying information, responding to a request to identify the birdmay be difficult for a generalist information searcher, that is, asearcher who is not a member an affiliate group (e.g., affiliate group A105). A searcher who is a member of the interest group with expertise inbird watching (e.g., “Audubon Society”) might easily provide searchresults identifying the bird due to a searcher's familiarity with birdidentification resources or personal knowledge of birds. A searcher whois a member of such an affiliate group would likely have knowledge ofand access to resources which are helpful for identifying birds. As aresult, the affiliate group searcher might be able to assist theinformation seeker with identifying the bird in a timely and accuratemanner. As explained further hereinafter, the likelihood of providingrelevant search result(s) may be increased by limiting the selection ofsearchers from the affiliate group to searchers who are from a localityor region. Such searchers might have relevant local knowledge (e.g.,knowledge of birds native to or commonly found in an area designated bya user).

In at least one embodiment, each of the searchers within an affiliategroup may have a special area of interest within the affiliate grouparea of interest. For example, the affiliate group B 125 (e.g., “MusicMasters”) may represent a group of searchers with expertise in music.Searcher B1 130 (e.g., “Charlie Classics”) may specialize in thecategory or keyword of “classical music”. The searcher B2 135 (e.g.,“Harry Hiphop”) may have interest in a category or keyword such as“hip-hop music”, while the searcher BX 140 (e.g., “Billy Hill”) mayspecialize in “country music”.

Similarly, affiliate group C 145 (e.g., “Old Car Crazies”) may be anaffiliate group having a specialization in antique automobiles. Any ofthe searchers, that is searcher C1 150 (e.g., “Vicky Value”), searcherC2 155 (e.g., “Ron Restor”), and searcher CX 160 (e.g., “Henry Ford”)possibly having different specializations within the group interest,such as antique automobile valuation, restoration and history of theautomobile industry as a whole, or a specific manufacturer or model.

In the restricted membership affiliate group embodiment, an affiliategroup may be composed of members of a specific company or organizationwho are sharing confidential information. For example, members of such arestricted membership affiliate group may be a legal expert, anaccounting expert, and an engineering expert, all of whom have a commonbond, such as, being employed by a specific corporation.

In at least one embodiment, an information seeker can select a searcherfrom a selected affiliate group. For example, an information seeker canspecifically request the searcher B2 135 (“Harry Hiphop”) from theaffiliate group B 125 (“Music Masters”). For instance, an informationseeker desiring to identify a song title for a hip-hop music song mayselect searcher B2 135 (“Harry Hiphop”) and/or search result(s) producedby him or her. An information seeker may also select a searcher due tothe selected searcher having satisfactorily provided the informationseeker with a search result(s) for a previous query.

In at least one embodiment, an information seeker is presented with aGUI (such as that illustrated in FIG. 13) providing access to a profileof searchers within an affiliate group. A profile may provideinformation regarding a searcher(s) to facilitate selection of asearcher who might be particularly well suited for providing a searchresult(s) for an information seeker query. Among the attributes of asearcher which may be identified in a searcher profile are a rating ofthe searcher, educational background of the searcher, a residence cityand/or geographical region of residence of the searcher, a job title ofthe searcher, an availability indicator of the searcher, a list of priorqueries answered by the searcher, search results for prior queriesproduced by the searcher, etc.

Alternatively, the system may automatically select a guide from anaffiliate group based on availability of the searcher, difficulty of aquery, a searcher skill level, specialization of a searcher, trainingrecord(s) of a searcher, etc. Such automatic selection of a searcher maybe accomplished in accordance with the disclosure of U.S. applicationSer. No. 11/780,297 entitled, “Method, System, and Computer ReadableStorage for Podcasting and Video Training in an Information SearchSystem”, by Jones, et al., filed Jul. 19, 2007, Ser. No. 11/780,241entitled, “Method, Apparatus, and Computer Readable Storage for TrainingHuman Searchers”, by Jones, et al, filed on Jul. 19, 2007 and Ser. No.11/780,329 entitled, “Method, System, and Computer Readable MediumUseful in Managing a Computer-Based System for Servicing User InitiatedTasks”, by Jones et al., filed on Jul. 19, 2007 which disclosures areincorporated herein by reference and in application Ser. No. 11/336,928previously mentioned. In utilizing the method of automatically selectinga searcher, a list of eligible searchers may be limited to searchersfrom an affiliate group.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, in at least one embodiment, system 200 isprovided. System 200 includes the searcher computer system 205 thesearcher computer system 210 a network 220 such as the Internet, asearch system 225, an information seeker computer system 230, affiliategroup database 235, affiliate group searcher database 240, anauthorization database 245 and a search database 250.

Each of the searcher computer systems, that is, the searcher computersystems 205, 210 can be operated by members of an affiliate group(s).For example, the searcher computer system 205 may be operated by thesearcher “Bill Birdsong”, a member of the affiliate group “AudubonSociety” (FIG. 1). The searcher computer system 210 may be operated by“Harry Hiphop”, a member of the affiliate group “Music Masters”. Whileonly a limited number of searcher and information seeker (also referredto as a user or Infoseeker™) computer systems are depicted in FIG. 2, itis within the scope of the disclosure for multiple searcher andinformation seeker computer systems to be utilized.

The network 220 (FIG. 2) may be a global public network of networks (theInternet) or consist in whole or in part of one or more private networksand communicatively couples the searcher computer systems and usercomputer systems with the other components of the system such as thesearch system 225, the affiliate group database 235, the affiliate groupsearcher database 240, the authorization database 245, and the searchdatabase 250.

The search system 225 allows interaction to occur between the searchercomputer systems 205, 210 and the information seeker computer system230. For example, an information search query(ies) can be transmittedfrom the information seeker computer system 230 to the search system225, where a query(ies) can be accessed by the searcher computer systems205, 210. Similarly, a search result(s) produced using the searchercomputer systems 205, 210 in response to a search query(ies) produced bythe information seeker computer system 230 are transmitted to the searchsystem 225, where they may be stored by the search system 225 and may betransmitted to the information seeker computer system 230.

The information seeker computer system 230 may include within the scopeof the disclosure, any device through which an information seeker cansubmit a query to and receive a result(s) from the search system 225. Inone embodiment, the information seeker computer system 230 may be adevice configured for connection to a network and may run web browsersoftware. Thus, the information seeker computer system 230 may be alaptop, personal data assistant, desktop PC or Mac®, a workstation orterminal connected to a mainframe, or a smart phone, etc. within thescope of the disclosure. Additionally, as disclosed in U.S. applicationSer. No. 11/647,437 entitled, “Targeted Mobile Device Advertisements”,by Jones, et al., filed on Dec. 29, 2006 and incorporated by referenceherein, the search system may include a gateway for voice communicationand a speech-to-text system or other transcription device or personnelto facilitate access to the search system via voice communications suchas through a land line phone, cell phone, voice over internet protocolor other telephonic device. Such devices are also information seekercomputer system 230 within the scope of the disclosure.

The search system 225 (FIG. 2) is communicatively coupled with theaffiliate group database 235, the affiliate group searcher database 240,the authorization database 245 and the search database 250. As will bedescribed herein in further detail below, the databases include datathat is processed during operation of the embodiments.

After being presented with the disclosure herein, one of ordinary skillin the art will readily appreciate that the computer systems of theembodiments can be any type of viable computer systems known in the art.

In the disclosed system and method the guides or searchers may berequired to register with the search system 225, and in certainembodiments undergo training prior to being permitted to provideresponses to queries submitted by an information seeker(s) or user(s)utilizing the search system. In one embodiment, a prospective guide orsearcher must be invited to register as a searcher with the searchsystem. In such a system, a previously registered searcher or anaffiliate group may initiate the invitation process and thereby bedesignated as a sponsor for the invited searcher. In one embodiment ofthe disclosed system and method, a prospective guide is sent an e-mailinvitation to register as a guide or searcher with the search system.The e-mail invitation in one embodiment contains a link to a guideregistration page and some indicia recognizable by the search system asto the person or entity that invited a prospective guide to register sothat upon registration the person or entity may be accredited withsponsorship of the invited guide.

Should a prospective guide elect to register as a guide with the system,the prospective guide may for example initiate a registration process byclicking on a link that directs the guide's web browser to a URL of aguide registration page generated by a web server function of the searchsystem 225. The search system may generate a registration web pagedesigned and configured to allow a prospective provider to enterinformation for registration as a guide with the search system, as willbe described herein below.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, a sample of an interest group record, of whichone or more may be associated with or resident in the affiliate groupdatabase 235 (FIG. 2), may include affiliate group identification (ID)field 305, affiliate group rating field 310, search specialty field 315,assigned searcher(s) field 320, a related keyword(s)/category(ies) field325, affiliate group search result(s) field 330, and affiliate groupquery(ies) field 335.

The affiliate group identification field 305 preferably includes aunique identifier of an affiliate group. For example, in at least oneembodiment, the affiliate group identification field 305 can include arandomly generated numerical code, (e.g., “N1122”) and/or a text stringindicating the name of the particular affiliate group (e.g., “AudubonSociety”) as in FIG. 3. After being presented with the disclosureherein, one of ordinary skill in the relevant art will realize thatother identifiers may be utilized without departing from the spirit andscope of the embodiments.

The affiliate group rating field 310 (FIG. 3) can include a rating orgrade for a particular affiliate group. In at least one embodiment, theaffiliate group rating field 310 is a grade reflecting the average gradeof the group's individual searchers as provided by information seekerswho have submitted search queries to the group. For example, if anaffiliate group member (e.g., “Harry Hiphop' of “Music Masters”)provides a search result(s), an information seeker may have rated thesearch result(s) a “5 out of 5” to indicate that “Harry Hiphop” (e.g.,searcher B2 135 (FIG. 1)) performed well in providing the search result.If a second member of the affiliate group (e.g., “Billy Hill” of “MusicMasters”) provides a second search result(s) to an information seeker,an information seeker may rate the search result(s) provided by thesecond group member (e.g., searcher BX 140, “Billy Hill”) or a secondresult(s) provided by the first group member (i.e., “Harry Hiphop”) witha “3 out of 5” to indicate that the second search result(s) wasmediocre. In such an instance, the affiliate group rating, having beendetermined by the average of the ratings of the individual members ofthe group, would be a “4”, a reflection of the average user performancerating for search result(s) produced by the affiliate group. Theaffiliate group rating may be displayed in any manner including, but notlimited to a “star” system wherein whole and partial stars are utilizedto indicate the ranking, a numerical system wherein a numerical value isassociated with the rating and/or other methods of depicting a value.

The affiliate group rating field 310 may include an overall rating of anaffiliate group and/or a rating of the group associated with acategory(ies) and/or keyword(s), etc. associated with the affiliategroup. This feature may allow a skill and/or competence rating of anaffiliate group to be independently maintained for a category(ies),keyword(s), or other information which is associated with the affiliategroup. In this way, skill ratings for an affiliate group may be basedupon a highly specialized area of interest (e.g., a keyword/query suchas “1945 New York Yankees baseball trivia”), a more general area (e.g.,“New York Yankees trivia”), a broader area of interest (e.g., “baseballtrivia”), etc.

Using the example illustrated in FIG. 3, the overall rating of “AudubonSociety” is ‘A1’, its rating on the category “Nature” is ‘B2’, and itsrating on the keyword “Robin” is ‘19’. Using the same example, thesearch result ‘birds of Indiana’, which may be associated with thequery/keyword “what bird has a red head and no tail” has a rating ‘5’and the result ‘Audubon Club of California’, which may be associatedwith the query/keyword “where can I learn about birding in California”has a rating ‘10’.

In at least one embodiment, elements in the affiliate group database 235may be linked for example by a pointer. For example items in theaffiliate group rating field 310 may be associated with items in therelated keyword(s)/category(ies) field 325 (e.g., Overall—A1,“Nature”—B2). Likewise, information in the affiliate group searchresult(s) field 330, interest group query(ies) field 335 and theaffiliate group rating field 310 may be associated. For example, theresult ‘Audubon Club of California’ when associated with the query‘where can I learn about birding in California’ may have a rating of‘10’.

After being presented with the disclosure herein, one of ordinary skillin the relevant art will realize that other rating schemes and methodsmay be utilized without departing from the scope and spirit of theembodiments. Ratings may be based upon results of voting, review byauthorized members, etc. In at least one embodiment, a rating is basedon the association of a query and/or keyword with a result(s). Therelevance of a result to the keyword or query may be reviewed by aweighted voting process as described in the related ProvisionalApplication U.S. Ser. No. 60/913,944, entitled, “Knowledge VettingSystem and Method for Search Results”, by Scott A. Jones, filed Apr. 25,2007 which disclosure is incorporated herein by reference.

In at least one embodiment, an interest group record associated with orresident in the affiliate group database 235 includes the searchspecialty field 315 to allow an information seeker to obtain informationregarding a specialization or expertise of an affiliate search group.For example, if a group (e.g., “Audubon Society”) specializes in birdwatching, the search specialty field 315 could provide details regardingthe interests of the group (e.g., “birds and birding”). As anotherexample if a group (e.g., affiliate group C 145 (FIG. 1) ‘Old CarCrazies’) specializes in antique cars, the definition of “antiqueautomobiles”, for example, whether the “more than 25 years old”definition of the Antique Automobile Club of America or “older thanclassic cars built between 1925 and 1948” of the Classic Car Club ofAmerica is used by the group might be indicated in the search specialtyfield 315 of the interest group record associated with the affiliategroup (e.g., affiliate group C 145).

In at least one embodiment, example search queries are provided whichmay allow an information seeker to determine whether he or she wouldlike to utilize a particular affiliate group. Such information might beincluded in the affiliate group query(ies) field 335. For example, “whatbird has a red head and no tail” or “where can I learn about birding inCalifornia” might be included in this field for the interest group“Audubon Society” as illustrated in FIG. 3.

In at least one embodiment, any or all previous search result(s) basedon information included in the affiliate group search result(s) field330 may be presented to an information seeker to aid in his or herdecision regarding use of an affiliate group searcher. For example,results such as ‘birds of Indiana’, ‘Audubon Club of California’, etc.which may provide resources and/or a specific answer to an informationseeker may be included in this field as illustrated.

To facilitate presentation of queries and search result(s) to aninformation seeker, a search database 250 (FIG. 2) of previous queriesand previous search results, resource(s), etc. may be maintained asdescribed in greater detail in Provisional Application Ser. No.60/821,595 entitled, “Electronic Previous Search Results Log”, by ScottA. Jones, filed on Aug. 7, 2006 which disclosure is herein incorporatedby reference. The data structure utilized for a previous query(ies) mayinclude a field indicative of an affiliate group(s), if any, to which aquery was assigned. Similarly, a data structure utilized for storage ofsearch results may include a field or flag indicative of an affiliategroup(s), if any, with which a searcher providing a search result(s) isassociated.

Additionally, a previous query(ies) as contained for example in theaffiliate group query(ies) field 335 and/or search results contained forexample in the affiliate group search result(s) field 330 generated fora query(ies) by searchers associated with an affiliate group may beutilized to present information to an affiliate group member(s) of aquery(ies) assigned and/or accepted and a search result(s) associatedwith a query(ies). Such information may be utilized by an affiliategroup member(s) to better understand an interest area of the affiliategroup and of an information seeker(s) generally with regard to a subjectmatter in which the affiliate group has an interest. Such informationmay be utilized to determine topics which might be addressed in aninternal or external communication such as a blog, web page, printedmedia, e-mail communication, etc., to more directly target advertisingpresented on an affiliate group web page, for purposes that mightincrease profitability, popularity and/or membership level of anaffiliate group, to identify training resources for a group member(s) toimprove search skills, etc.

The assigned searcher(s) field 320 identifies a searcher(s) who is amember of an affiliate group. For example, in at least one embodiment,the assigned searcher(s) field 320 for the affiliate group A 105(FIG. 1) “Audubon Society” includes names and/or identifiers of searcherA1 110 (e.g., “Bill Birdsong” (1143)), searcher A2 115 (e.g., “RobinFinder” (2167)), and searcher AX 120 (e.g., “Fred Finch” (4433)). Theassigned searcher(s) field 320 (FIG. 3) may allow an information seekerto select an individual searcher(s) from an affiliate group to provide asearch result(s). The selection may be made anonymously (i.e., withoutrequiring an exchange of identifying information of a searcher(s) and/orinformation seeker(s)).

The related keyword(s)/category(ies) field 325 may include keywordsand/or categories to which an affiliate group interest is related.Continuing with the example in FIG. 3 of the affiliate group pertainingto “birds and birding”, the related keyword(s)/category(ies) field 325for such a group could include the keywords, “robin”, “finch”, and “birdsongs” and the category “Nature”. The contents may allow the system toselect an affiliate group(s) by analyzing a query entered by aninformation seeker using keywords/categories related to an affiliategroup.

In at least one embodiment, if an affiliate group has selected toinclude a search window driven by the disclosed system on an affiliategroup web page, all queries presented through the search window may bedirected if possible to registered searchers who are members of theaffiliate group. In an alternate embodiment, if an information seekerutilizes a search engine on a web page of the search system, a query isanalyzed to determine a keyword(s) and/or category(ies) to which a querymost likely relates. If a recognized affiliate group with members whohave registered as searchers exists that has a particular interest in asubject matter to which a query relates, the search system 225 (FIG. 2)may generate a pop-up window or other notification in an informationseeker interface. If such interface is, for example, running a webbrowser, a GUI may allow the information seeker to choose to utilize theservices of a searcher who is a member of an affiliate group. Todetermine whether to present such a notification, the search system 225(FIG. 2) may compare a query, a keyword(s) and/or category(ies) from asearch query and contents of the related keyword(s)/category(ies) field325 (FIG. 3) of an interest group record associated with or resident inthe affiliate group database 235 (FIG. 2) to determine affiliate groupswhich might have an interest in a subject matter related to aninformation seeker query. Exemplary graphical user interfaces forselecting an affiliate group and/or group member when prompted by thesearch system 225 are illustrated in FIGS. 13 and 14.

In at least one embodiment, an affiliate group may structure acompensation agreement to indicate willingness to receive differentcompensation for a search query(ies) directed to its members from a webpage of the search system provider associated with a keyword(s) and/orcategory(ies). For example, a travel affiliate group might sharerevenues derived from information seekers directed to the affiliategroup members by the search system 225 (FIG. 1).

As illustrated in FIG. 4, a sample record of an interest group searcherof which one or more may be associated with or resident in the affiliategroup searcher database 240 (FIG. 2) includes information related to anindividual searcher(s) of an affiliate group(s) such as searcheridentification (ID) field 405, affiliate group ID field 410, searcherusername field 415, searcher verification code 420, searcher ratingfield 425, competence area within interest group field 435, demographicprofile data field 440, and geographic location data field 450.

The searcher identification field 405 preferably includes a uniqueidentifier of an affiliate group member. For example, in at least oneembodiment, the searcher identification field 405 can include a randomlygenerated numerical code such as “4433”. The searcher identificationfield 405 can include a text string indicating a name of a particularaffiliate group member, for example, “Fred Finch” as illustrated in FIG.4.

The affiliate group ID field 410 includes an identifier of an affiliategroup(s) associated with a searcher, which may include a numericidentifier which is preferably unique and preferably consistently used,and/or a text string indicating the name of the affiliate group (e.g.,“Audubon Society (N1122)”, “Indiana Rifle Club (N1492)”). As any or allthe affiliate groups associated with a searcher are included in theaffiliate group ID field, an information seeker is able to select to usethe searcher to search for information as a member of another affiliategroup, or for other queries.

The searcher username field 415 may include a text string and/ornumerical code used to allow a searcher to search a resource(s) toproduce a search result(s) in response to a search query(ies). As willbe described herein in further detail below, a human searcher seeking toproduce a search result(s) in response to an information searchquery(ies) may be prompted to enter his or her username as part of averification process. As illustrated in FIG. 4, a different username maybe used for each affiliate group (e.g., “Fred Finch” as a member of“Audubon Society”, “Firearm Fred” as a member of “Indiana Rifle Club”)which may allow usage of existing login data from a database and/orresource, for example.

Searcher verification code field 420 includes a verification code forverifying that an affiliate group member is a member of an affiliategroup. A searcher verification code may be a text string and/ornumerical code that operates in conjunction with contents of thesearcher username field 415 to verify a searcher authorization(s). In atleast one embodiment, a username entered by a searcher is used toretrieve or “look-up” the searcher's verification code (password) tocompare the verification code with a verification code entered by asearcher. If both a username match occurs and a verification code matchoccurs, a searcher may be allowed to search an information resource(s)and provide a search result(s) in response to a search query, as will bedescribed in further detail herein below. Other types of security data,such as fingerprint, retinal scan data, etc. may be indicated in theverification code field when methods such as biometrics are used foraccess verification without departing from the scope of this disclosure.

Searcher rating field 425 includes a rating for an affiliate groupsearcher. In at least one embodiment, the rating is a numericalindication, for example, “5”. A rating can be determined by for example,averaging performance ratings for a searcher for queries directed to theaffiliate group or any other method as described in the related U.S.application Ser. No. 11/780,297, Ser. No. 11/780,241, and Ser. No.11/780,329 previously mentioned. For example, if a searcher received aperformance rating of “4.5” for providing a first search result, a “2.5”for providing a second search result, and a “3.5” for providing a thirdsearch result, the searcher rating field 425 might specify a rating of“3.5”. A searcher rating may be calculated from data produced by methodssuch as user ratings, review by members of an affiliate group, review bygeneral searchers, usage data, etc. as described in the relatedProvisional Application U.S. Ser. No. 60/913,944, previously mentioned.

The searcher rating field 425 in at least one embodiment, may include aranking indicator. For instance, in a configuration in which there areseveral levels of expert searchers, for example, “level 1 expert”,“level 2 expert”, or “level 3 expert”, a searcher who is ranked as thebest “level 1 expert” searcher in the system (or an affiliate group) maybe specified by including a value of “1-1” (first ranked level 1searcher) in the searcher rating field 425. Similarly, a low-ranked“level 2 expert” may be specified by including a value of “2-45”(forty-fifth ranked level 2 searcher). Searcher ratings and or ratingmethods may be different for different interest groups, as illustratedin FIG. 4. For example, the searcher “Fred Finch (4433)” has a rating‘2’ associated with the interest group “Audubon Society (N1122)” and arating ‘Novice-4’ for the interest group “Indiana Rifle Club (N1492)”.

After being presented with the disclosure herein, one of ordinary skillin the relevant art will immediately recognize that other ranking and/orrating method(s) may be utilized without departing from the scope andspirit of the embodiments.

For example, a global ranking system may be employed by the embodiments.In such a scheme, as illustrated in FIG. 4 the searcher rating field 425may include a numerical value indicating the overall ranking of asearcher associated with that record. For example, a value of “5” wouldindicate that a searcher is the (e.g., ‘Fred Finch 4433’) is the fifthbest searcher out of all of the searchers in the affiliate group‘Audubon Society’.

Competence area within interest group field 435 may include informationof a specific area of interest within an affiliate group's expertise,for example, a subcategory within an area of interest of the affiliategroup. For instance, if an affiliate group searcher is a member of the“Audubon Society” affiliate group (i.e., the affiliate group A 105 (FIG.1)), the competence area within interest group field 435 for an interestgroup searcher could specify “finches” and/or “bird photography” toindicate that a searcher's area of expertise or competence is in thesesubcategories.

The demographic profile data field 440 includes information regarding asearcher such as age or date of birth, educational background, sex,ethnicity, etc. that may be compared to information in a targetprofile(s), keyword(s), category(ies), etc. associated with a queryindicating that the query may be answered by a searcher with a specificdemographic profile. Information contained in the demographic profiledata field 440 may be acquired from a searcher when he or she registerswith the search system or updates his or her profile. Demographicinformation may be acquired by monitoring online activity(ies) of asearcher, by other observational data, using “cookies” from the searchersystem, by importing data from other resources, by testing a guide, etc.Exemplary demographic data is illustrated in FIG. 4, however it will beapparent to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art that any sort ofdemographic data may be used.

The geographic location data field 450 includes data indicative ofgeographic locations with which a searcher may be familiar based onprior or current residence, work location, searcher selection, etc. Suchdata may be acquired as part of a registration process, when a searcherupdates his or her profile, automatically by geo-targeting technologybased on the IP address or network location through which a searcher isconnected to the Internet or other network, via importing or accessingdata in external computer systems, etc. For example, an affiliate groupmight comprise flight attendants for an airline, and the geographiclocation data field 445 may include frequent destinations for a flightattendant(s). Such information may be acquired directly from a flightattendant, from an airline database regarding flight assignments of anattendant(s), from published schedules of flights, etc. Contents of thegeographic location data field 450 may be utilized to select asearcher(s) who may have familiarity with a locality to which a searchquery(ies) relates to perhaps improving the likelihood that a searchresult(s) will be responsive to a query.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, a sample of an interest group authorizationrecord, of which one or more may be associated with or resident in theauthorization database 245 (FIG. 2), includes information associatedwith information seekers that may be allowed or authorized to submitinformation search queries to an affiliate group(s). For example, in arestricted environment where health related information is searched, notall information seekers may be allowed to submit a query to an affiliategroup responsible for searching medical history resource(s). In at leastone embodiment, in addition to not being Internet accessible and/orsubject to other physical network security measures, an informationseeker seeking to obtain a response to a query for example, relating tosensitive information, may be required to verify his or her identity.Such a measure may be performed in an attempt to minimize or preventunauthorized access to a sensitive information resource(s).

Continuing with the example of the bird interest group presented above,a proprietary database of rare and/or endangered bird species might becreated and made available only to certain members of the “AudubonSociety” interest group (i.e., affiliate group A 105 (FIG. 1). The groupmight allow one or all affiliate members to access the database, butmight only allow a specific list of authorized users to access andsearch the database in order to avoid use by amateurs and/or poachersthat may be using the resource and thus affecting the survival of thespecies. An authorized user(s) might for example, be sent an encryptede-mail with a user ID and login information.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the exemplary interest group authorizationrecord includes affiliate group identification (ID) field 505,authorized user(s) ID field 510, authorized user(s) username field 515,authorized user(s) password field 520, authorized searcher(s) ID field525, authorized searcher(s) username field 530, and authorizedsearcher(s) password field 535.

The affiliate group ID field 505 contains an identifier of an affiliategroup which may require authorization to submit a query to and/or searcha resource(s) of the affiliate group. The identifier may be that used inthe other records (see FIGS. 3 and 4), or may be an indicator thereof.

The authorized user(s) ID field 510 includes a unique identifieridentifying an information seeker(s) allowed to submit queries to anaffiliate group(s). For example, the authorized user(s) ID field 510 mayinclude a random code and/or number and/or a text string identifying aninformation seeker, for example, the name of the information seeker.

The authorized user(s) username field 515 may include a text string ornumerical code used to control access by an information seeker to submitan information search query(ies) to an affiliate group in the system.The contents of the authorized user(s) username field 515 can beutilized for login purposes in conjunction with information contained inthe authorized user(s) ID field 510 to specifically identify a user.

As will be described herein in further detail below, an informationseeker desiring to submit an information search query to an authorizeduser affiliate group may be prompted to enter his or her username aspart of a verification process.

The authorized user(s) password field 520 may include information suchas a text string and/or numerical code that operates in conjunction withthe contents of the authorized user(s) username field 515 to verify auser access privilege(s). In at least one embodiment, a username enteredby an information seeker may be used to retrieve or “look-up” the user'spassword stored in the authorized user(s) password field 520 to comparethe password with a password entered by a user. If both a username matchoccurs and a password match occurs, a user may be allowed to submit aninformation search query(ies), as will be described in further detailherein below.

The authorized searcher(s) ID field 525 includes a unique identifieridentifying a guide(s) allowed to respond to queries submitted to and/orto access resource(s) of an affiliate group(s). For example, theauthorized searcher(s) ID field 525 may include a random code and/ornumber and/or a text string identifying an information seeker, forexample, the name of the information seeker.

The authorized searcher(s) username field 530 may include a text stringor numerical code used to control access by a human searcher (guide) torespond to information search query(ies) submitted to an affiliategroup(s) in the system. The contents of the authorized searcher(s)username field 530 can be utilized for login purposes in conjunctionwith information contained in the authorized searcher(s) ID field 525 tospecifically identify a searcher. As illustrated in FIG. 5A, theauthorized searcher list for the restricted affiliate group (e.g.,‘Audubon Society—Rare and Endangered’ and the searcher list may not beidentical to that of an unrestricted affiliate group. Likewise the listof authorized users may be similarly modified. In this way, an affiliategroup may control access to specific resources and/or respondents tospecific types of queries while allowing other more generalist searcherswho may also be members of the affiliate group to access a differentgroup of resource(s).

As will be described herein in further detail below, a searcher desiringto respond to a search query assigned to an authorized searcheraffiliate group may be prompted to enter his or her username as part ofa verification process.

The authorized searcher(s) password field 535 may include informationsuch as a text string and/or numerical code that operates in conjunctionwith the contents of the authorized searcher(s) username field 530 toverify a searcher access privilege(s). In at least one embodiment, ausername entered by a searcher may be used to retrieve or “look-up” thesearcher's password stored in the authorized searcher(s) password field535 to compare the password with a password entered by a searcher. Ifboth a username match occurs and a password match occurs, a searcher maybe allowed to provide an information search result(s) and/or searchresource(s) of the affiliate group, as will be described in furtherdetail herein below.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, a method 600 for information seeker selectionof and obtaining access to affiliate group searching is provided.

In operation 605 a determination is made as to whether a search query isreceived. If it is determined that a search query has not been received,method 600 continues to wait. If it is determined that a search queryhas been received, control is passed to operation 610 and method 600continues.

In operation 610, a notification is sent to the information seekerindicating that affiliate group searching is available, based on thecontent of a query. In at least one embodiment, for example, anelectronic menu is provided. The electronic menu may include a link forpresenting a graphical user interface for affiliate group searching.Control is passed to operation 615 and method 600 continues.

In operation 615 a determination is made as to whether a user hasselected interest group searching. A determination may be made based onany suitable indication by a user. For example a link to an interestgroup website may be activated, a button in a graphical user interface(GUI) may be activated, a voice input may be made, etc. If in operation615 it is determined that interest group searching is not selected,control is passed to operation 605 and method 600 continues. If inoperation 615 it is determined that interest group searching isselected, control is passed to operation 620 and method 600 continues.

In operation 620 a determination is made whether an information seeker(IS) is to be presented with an option to select an interest group(s)for providing a search result(s). If it is determined in operation 620that an information seeker is not to be presented with an option toselect an interest group(s) control passes to operation 625 and method600 continues. If it is determined in operation 620 that an informationseeker is to be presented with an option to select an interest group(s)to provide a search result(s) control is passed to operation 630 andmethod 600 continues.

The determination in operation 620 may be based on the availability ofmultiple interest groups for a topic, a contractual agreement between aparticular affiliate group and the system provider (e.g., the highestbidder for a query), current volume of queries on the topic, etc. Theselection of determination criteria may be made manually by systemadministrators, or according to pre-established conditions. Such actionsmay allow for optimization of income for the provider of the system.

In operation 630 a notification is sent to an information seeker that anoption to select an interest group(s) to provide a search result(s) fora search query is available. Control is passed to operation 635 andmethod 600 continues.

The notification in operation 630 may be a simple pop-up GUI asillustrated in FIG. 9 or a complex interactive GUI as illustrated inFIG. 12. The notification may be presented via any suitable medium, suchas an instant message (IM), wireless, voiceXML, e-mail, etc.

In operation 635 a determination is made whether an information seekerchooses to select an interest group to provide a search result(s) for aquery. If it is determined in operation 635 that an information seekerchooses to select an interest group to provide a search result(s),control is passed to operation 640 and method 600 continues. If it isdetermined in operation 635 that an information seeker does not chooseto select an interest group to provide a search result(s) for a query,control is passed to operation 625 and method 600 continues.

In operation 640 a list of interest group(s) is presented to aninformation seeker. The list of interest groups may be displayed in anyorder. In a preferred embodiment, the list of interest group(s) may bepresented in order of relevance and/or competence to perform a searchbased upon a method determined by the search system 225 (FIG. 2). Thelist of interest groups may be limited to a predetermined number toavoid information overload for an information seeker. The list may bepresented in a GUI such as that illustrated in FIG. 13. Control ispassed to operation 650 and method 600 continues.

In operation 650 a determination is made whether an interest group(s) isselected by an information seeker. If it is determined in operation 650that an information seeker has selected an interest group(s) to providea search result(s) for a query, control is passed to operation 655 andmethod 600 continues. If it is determined in operation 650 that aninformation seeker has not selected an interest group to perform asearch control is passed to operation 625 and method 600 continues. Thedetermination that an Infoseeker™ has not selected an interest group maybe made actively (e.g., the user clicked on the “auto select” button1340 (FIG. 13)) or passively (e.g., the user times-out).

In operation 655 a determination is made whether a user login, password,and/or other authentication are required to submit a search query to aselected interest group(s). If in operation 655 it is determined that auser authentication is not required; control is passed to operation 680and method 600 continues. If in operation 655 it is determined that auser authentication is required to submit an information search query toan interest group(s) a notification is sent to an information seeker andcontrol is passed to operation 660 and method 600 continues.

In operation 660 a determination is made whether an information seekerhas entered a valid set of login credentials. If in operation 660 it isdetermined that a valid login credential(s) has been entered, control ispassed to operation 670 and method 600 continues. If it is determined inoperation 660 that an information seeker has not entered a valid logincredential(s) a notification may be sent to the information seeker, theassociated databases 250 and/or 255 are updated, control is passed tooperation 605 and method 600 continues. The determination of invalidauthentication credentials in operation 660 may be based on multipleconditions. For example, if the system times-out waiting for the user totake action, the database may reflect this and simply return to wait foranother query to be received. In another case, the system may detectthat the number of attempts to validate credentials has exceeded athreshold count allowed by the system. The system may bar a usernamefrom accessing the affiliate group until action is taken by systemadministrator(s) based on the update to the authentication database 245.

In operation 625 a selection of an interest group(s) is made by thesearch system 225 (FIG. 2). The selection of an interest group(s) may bebased on any selection method determined by the system. Any informationcontained in the affiliate group database 255 (FIG. 2) and/or the searchdatabase 250 may be used. For example, based upon information associatedwith a query including keyword(s), category(ies), profile(s), etc.interest groups may be ranked and an interest group may be selectedbased upon ranking, rating, availability, etc. of a searcher(s) and/orthe affiliate group. In at least one embodiment, the same criteria asthat used to order the list presented to an information seeker inoperation 640 is utilized, and information seeker selections may be usedto modify the system criteria for selection of an interest group.Control is passed to operation 655 and method 600 continues.

In operation 670 a determination is made whether an information seekermay be presented with an option to select a searcher(s) to provide asearch result(s) for a query. If in operation 670 it is determined thatan information seeker may be presented an option to select a searcher(s)to provide a search result(s) a notification may be sent to aninformation seeker, control is passed to operation 675 and method 600continues. If in operation 670 it is determined that an informationseeker may not be presented with an option to select a searcher(s) toprovide a search result(s) a notification may be sent to an informationseeker, control is passed to operation 680 and method 600 continues.

The determination in operation 670 may be based on multiple criteria.For example, if the selected interest group criteria might presentpersonally identifiable information of the searcher, searcher selectionmight not be allowed, or if there is reason to suspect that a userand/or searcher are “gaming” the search system for compensation, or forany other reason, the option to select a searcher(s) may not beavailable.

In operation 675 a list of eligible searcher(s) is presented to aninformation seeker. The list may be presented in a GUI such as thatillustrated in FIG. 14. The list of eligible or available searcherspresented to an information seeker may be presented in any orderdetermined by the search system 225 (FIG. 2). The list may presented inan order determined by a ranking method based upon information containedin the search database 250 and/or the affiliate group database(s) 255and/or other data accessible by the search system 225. In a preferredembodiment, the list is limited to a predetermined number of searchersand the order of presentation is from highest to lowest rated eligiblesearcher based on the method determined by the search system 225.Control is then passed to operation 685 and method 600 continues.

In operation 685 a determination is made whether an information seekerhas selected a searcher(s) to provide a search result(s) for a query. Ifin operation 685 it is determined that an information seeker has notselected a searcher(s), control is passed to operation 680 and process600 continues. The determination that an Infoseeker™ has not selected asearcher(s) may be made actively (e.g., the user clicked on the “autoselect” button 1440 (FIG. 14)) or passively (e.g., the user times-out).If in operation 685 it is determined that an information seeker hasselected a searcher(s) to provide search result(s) for a query controlis passed to operation 690 and method 600 continues.

In operation 680 a searcher(s) to provide a search result(s) to a queryis selected by the search system 225 (FIG. 2). The selection of aneligible or available searcher may be based upon any criteria determinedby the search system 225 (FIG. 2). In a preferred embodiment, thecriteria for selection of a searcher(s) by the system is that used torank the list of searchers presented to an information seeker forselection of a searcher(s) in operation 675, and the selection criteriamay be modified based upon the selection by an information seeker. Thesearch database 250 and affiliate group database(s) 255 are updated andcontrol is passed to operation 690 and operation 600 continues.

In operation 690 a determination is made whether a user is required tohave a valid set of credentials to submit an information query to aselected searcher(s). If it is determined in operation 690 that a validset of credentials is not required, control is passed to operation 697and method 600 continues. If in operation 690 it is determined that avalid set of credentials is required to submit a query to a selectedsearcher(s) a notification may be sent to an information seeker, controlis passed to operation 695 and method 600 continues.

In operation 695 a verification similar to that in operation 660 isperformed. If in operation 695 it is determined that a valid set ofcredentials has been provided, control is passed to operation 697 andmethod 600 continues. If in operation 695 it is determined that a validset of login credentials has not been provided the associateddatabase(s) 250 and/or 255 are updated, control is passed to operation605 and method 600 continues. The determination of invalidauthentication credentials in operation 695 may be based on multipleconditions. For example, if the system times-out waiting for the user totake action, the database may reflect this and simply return to wait foranother query to be received. In another case, the system may detectthat the number of attempts to validate credentials has exceeded athreshold count allowed by the system. The system may bar a usernamefrom accessing the affiliate group until action is taken by systemadministrator(s) based on the update to the authentication database 245.

In operation 697 a query is submitted to a searcher(s) and control ispassed to operation 698 and method 600 continues.

In operation 698 a determination is made as to whether a searchresult(s) is returned. If a search result(s) is not returned, method 600waits for a search result(s) to be returned. If a search result(s) isnot returned within a predetermined amount of time, the method 600 timesout and control is passed to operation 605 and method 600 continues. Ifin operation 698 it is determined a search result(s) is returned, arating process may be performed by any method(s) including voting,review by searcher(s), user rating, etc. The search and affiliatedatabase(s) 250, 255 (FIG. 2) are updated, control is passed tooperation 699 and method 600 continues.

In operation 695 a determination is made whether a user is logged-in. Ifit is determined that the user is not logged-in, control is passed tooperation 601 and method 600 continues. If in operation 695 it isdetermined that a user is logged-in, control is passed to operation 602and method 600 continues. In operation 601 the search result(s) may beposted to a bulletin board, or other record in the search database 250(FIG. 2) to be presented to the Infoseeker™ at the next login, thedatabase(s) 250, 255 are updated, control is passed to operation 605 andmethod 600 continues. In operation 602 the search result(s) may bepresented to the user, the databases 250, 255 (FIG. 2) are updated,control is passed to operation 605 and method 600 continues.

While method 600 has been described in the context of a real-timeselection of a searcher(s) and/or interest group(s) by an informationseeker(s) for a query, it will be immediately obvious to one of ordinaryskill in the related art that a selection of a searcher(s) and/orinterest group(s) may be used to provide a search result(s) stored bythe search system 225. That is, a search result(s) provided by membersof an affiliate group may be provided for a query(ies) without the useof a human searcher(s).

In at least one embodiment of the disclosed systems and methods, a userwho wishes to query an affiliate group may be required to download asoftware application other than a web browser or thin client. Inparticular, an application such as the ChaCha® Guide Application,disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No. 11/647,286 by Jones, et al.entitled, “Automated Tool for Human Assisted Mining and Capturing ofPrecise Results”, filed Dec. 29, 2006 and incorporated herein byreference, might be utilized to access a secure system.

In FIG. 7, a method 700 for login by a searcher as a member(s) of anaffiliate group is provided.

Method 700 begins with operation 705. In operation 705 a determinationis made as to whether a searcher login request by a member of anaffiliate group has been received. If in operation 705 it is determinedthat a searcher login request has not been received, method 700continues to wait for a login request. If in operation 705 it isdetermined that a searcher login request has been received, control ispassed to operation 710 and method 700 continues.

In operation 710 a determination is made whether a searcher hasregistered with the search system 225 (FIG. 2) as a member of anaffiliate group. If in operation 710 it is determined that a searcherhas not registered as a member of an affiliate group, a notification maybe sent to a searcher and control is passed to operation 715 and method700 continues. If in operation 710 it is determined that a searcher hasregistered as a member of an affiliate group, control is passed tooperation 720 and method 700 continues.

In operation 715 a determination is made as to whether a searcher iseligible to register as a member of an affiliate group. If it isdetermined that the searcher is not eligible, control is passed tooperation 705 and method 700 continues. If it is determined in operation715 that a searcher is eligible to register as a member of an affiliategroup, control is passed to operation 717 and method 700 continues.

In operation 717 a searcher is registered as a member of an affiliategroup as further described herein, databases 250, 255 are updated,control is passed to operation 705 and method 700 continues.

In operation 720 a determination is made whether a searcher is requiredto provide a valid credential(s) in order to access resource(s) and/orprovide a search result(s) for a query(ies) directed to an affiliategroup(s). If in operation 720 it is determined that a searcher isrequired to provide a valid credential(s) to access resource(s) and/orprovide a search result(s) control is passed to operation 725 and method700 continues. If in operation 720 it is determined that a searcher isnot required to provide a valid credential to access resource(s) and/orprovide a search result(s) for a query(ies) directed to an interestgroup, control is passed to operation 735 and method 700 continues.

In operation 725 a notification may be sent to a searcher to allow asearcher to provide a valid credential(s) to access resource(s) and/orprovide a search result(s) for a query(ies) directed to an affiliategroup(s). The validation request may be presented in a searcher loginGUI such as that illustrated in FIG. 15, which is further describedherein. Control is passed to operation 730 and method 700 continues.

In operation 730 a determination is made whether a valid credential ispresented by a searcher to access resource(s) and/or provide a searchresult(s) for a query(ies) directed to an affiliate group. If inoperation 730 it is determined that a searcher has presented a validcredential the database is updated and control is passed to operation735. If in operation 730 it is determined that a searcher has notprovided a valid credential the databases 255, 250 are updated, controlis passed to operation 705 process 700 continues. The determination ofinvalid authentication credentials in operation 730 may be based onmultiple conditions. For example, if the system 225 times-out waitingfor the searcher to take action, the databases may reflect this andsimply return to wait for another login request to be received. Inanother case, the system may detect that the number of attempts tovalidate credentials has exceeded a threshold count allowed by thesystem. The system 225 may bar a username from accessing the affiliategroup until action is taken by system administrator(s) based on theupdate to the databases 250, 255.

In operation 735 a determination is made whether a there is a searchquery for which a searcher is eligible to produce a search result(s). Ifit in operation 735 it is determined that there is a query for which asearcher is eligible to produce a search result(s) control is passed tooperation 740 and method 700 continues. If in operation 735 it isdetermined that there is no query for which a searcher is eligible toproduce a search result(s) control is passed to operation 750 method 700continues.

The determination in operation 735 may be based upon any informationassociated with a searcher and/or a search query. For example, asearcher may be determined to be eligible to provide a search result(s)for a query which has been directed to any member of an interest groupfor which a searcher has registered, a query which has been directed tothe searcher, etc. Likewise, a searcher may be determined not beeligible to provide a search result(s) for a query directed to aninterest group for which a searcher has registered due to informationassociated with a query. For example, a query may be directed to ahigher rank/rating, a specialized skill set may be associated with aquery, an immediate reply may be required and a searcher is notavailable due to any reason, etc.

In operation 740 a searcher performs an information search and returns asearch result(s) for a query for which a searcher is eligible. Searchresource(s) available to a searcher may be under access restrictionbased upon information associated with a searcher in the search database250 (FIG. 2), If a search result(s) is provided, the search database250, and/or affiliate database(s) 255 are updated and a search result(s)may be sent to an information seeker. Control is passed to operation 745and method 700 continues.

In operation 745 a rating and/or ranking of a searcher(s), and/or anaffiliate group(s) may need to be updated due to receiving rating(s)and/or ranking(s) of a search result(s) provided by a searcher(s). If arating or ranking of a search result(s) has been received, the searchdatabase 250 and/or affiliate database(s) 255 are updated, control ispassed to operation 750 and method 700 continues. A rating(s) and/orranking of a search result(s) may be produced by methods describedherein and/or in the related Provisional Application U.S. Ser. No.60/913,944 previously mentioned. In at least one embodiment, aninformation seeker may be requested to provide a rating of a searchresult(s) when it is received.

In operation 750 a determination is made as to whether a searcher isstill logged-in to the search system. If it is determined that asearcher is still logged-in to the search system, control is passed tooperation 735 and method 700 continues. If it is determined that asearcher is not still logged-in to the search system, databases 250, 255(FIG. 2) are updated, control is passed to operation 705 and method 700continues.

A search result(s) and/or a search query may be transmitted via anycommunication method, including wireless transmission, wiredtransmission, e-mail, via the network 220 (FIG. 2), or from any suitablecomputer system.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a searcher or guide registration webpage 800 designed and configured to allow a prospective guide to enterinformation for registration as a guide with the search system 225 (FIG.2). As illustrated in FIG. 8, for example, the searcher registrationpage 800 may be divided into the account information section 805, thepersonal information section 810 and the terms of service section 815.The account information section 805 and the personal information section810 each may include a plurality of text boxes and/or drop-down listsfor entry of data associated with a guide. A user ID text box 820 isprovided for input of user ID information regarding a searcher whoseuser ID may be utilized as a screen name for the guide within the searchsystem. The user ID may be automatically populated with a standardizedform of user ID by utilizing data input in the personal informationsection 810. In the illustrated example for instance, the user ID mayfor example, be automatically generated by selecting the first letter ofthe text string entered in the first name text box 840 and the textstring entered in the last name text box 844 in the personal informationsection 810 and an appended string if required to differentiate the userID from existing user IDs.

The registration web page may also include the password text box 825 andthe password confirmation text box 830 wherein a prospective guideenters a password and confirms the entered password that will beutilized when logging in to the search system 225 (FIG. 2). The accountinformation section 805 of the registration page may also include ane-mail text box 835 for entry of the prospective guide's e-mail address,as shown in FIG. 8.

The personal information section 810 may include the first name textbox, 840, the middle initial text box 842 and the last name text box 844for entry of the name of the prospective searcher. As shown in FIG. 8,the personal information section 810 may include a phone number text box846 for entry of a phone number of a prospective guide. Preferably thephone number text box requires entry of a ten-digit number includingarea code. The area code entered in the phone number text box 846 may beutilized to establish a geographic location of a guide, which geographiclocation may be utilized in the process for selecting a guide(s)eligible to respond to a query(ies) submitted by an information seeker.Multiple address text box lines 848, 850, a city text box 852, a statetext box 854 and a postal or postal code text box 856 may be providedfor entry of address information by the prospective searcher. Addressinformation may also be utilized to establish a geographic location fora guide which location information may be utilized in a process forselecting a guide(s) eligible to respond to a query(ies) submitted by aninformation seeker(s).

The registration web page may also include a date of birth text box 858and a text box or preferably a drop-down list 860, whereby theprospective searcher may list or select his or her gender. Along withgeographic location data, date of birth and gender data may be utilizedin a process(es) for determining if a guide is eligible to provide asearch result(s) for a query(ies) submitted by an information seeker(s).For instance, if a twenty-five year old female information seeker fromPalo Alto, Calif. submits a query such as, “What hotel locally has thebest dance club?”, the software running on the search system 225 (FIG.2) may select available female searchers between the ages of twenty-oneand thirty registered for travel related keywords having a familiaritywith hotels in the Silicon Valley to provide a search result(s).Alternately, the software may prompt an information seeker(s) to requestthat a query be answered by searchers who are members of an affiliategroup associated with travel. (e.g., flight attendant(s) for anairline(s)).

The registration page 800 may include one or more affiliation selectiondrop-down list boxes 864 populated with a list of available affiliategroups to permit a prospective guide to indicate affiliate groups withwhich he or she may be associated. In one embodiment, an affiliate groupmay elect to provide a search box on an affiliate group web page so thatqueries presented via the web page may be directed if possible tomembers of the affiliate group. In this embodiment, the registration webpage to which a link in an invitation e-mail directs a prospectivesearcher may pre-populate the affiliations box 864 with the name of asponsoring affiliate group. In one embodiment, a prospective searcherwill not be permitted to indicate affiliation with one or more groupswhen directed to a registration page via an e-mail invitation generatedby an affiliate group request. In other embodiments, a prospectivesearcher having received an invitation to register with the searchsystem may be able to select one or more affiliate groups in which he orshe may be a member. Upon indicating membership in an affiliate group,the search system may generate a pop-up window (e.g., the GUI in FIG.15) requesting information to validate a prospective searchersmembership in a selected affiliate group. Such information may include auser ID and/or a user password for an affiliate group. Any type ofmembership authentication information may be requested within the scopeof the disclosure.

The registration page 800 may include the areas of interest check boxes862 populated with a list of a plurality of interest areas to permitprospective searchers to indicate areas that may be of interest,familiarity, expertise, etc. The selections of the areas of interestcheck boxes 862 may be extracted from the registration page 800 andstored as data, such as in an interest group searcher record, in thedatabases 250, 255. The registration page 800 may also include theinternet connection speed text box 863. The internet connection speedtext box is preferably a drop-down list of internet connection speeds topermit a perspective searcher to indicate the speed at which he or shewill connect to the system. This data may be stored in the database 250and/or database(s) 255.

As explained in greater detail in U.S. application Ser. No. 11/777,505,entitled, “Method and System for Qualifying Keywords in Query Strings”,by Jones, et al, filed on Jul. 13, 2007 incorporated by referenceherein, prospective searchers register with the search system to searchbased on categories or keywords associated with the query presented bythe information seeker. In at least one embodiment of registration page800, three drop down lists 866, 868 and 870 as illustrated in FIG. 8A,are displayed for selecting categories or keywords for which theprospective searcher desires to conduct searches. It is within the scopeof the disclosure for fewer or more category or keyword registrationboxes to be presented on the searcher registration page 800. Whenregistering in response to an e-mail from an affiliate group sponsor,the available categories and keywords contained in the drop down lists866, 868 and 870 may reflect affiliate specific keywords and categoriesreflecting the taxonomy selected by the affiliate group.

The terms of service section 815 (FIG. 8) may include a scrollable textbox 872 containing text setting forth the conditions, terms rules and/orregulations applicable to registered searches with the search system.The check boxes 874 agreeing to the terms, conditions, rules andregulations set forth in the text box 872 may be provided whereby aprospective searcher may indicate willingness to comply with the termsand conditions set forth in the text box 872. Upon providing any datarequired for registration with the search service, a prospectivesearcher may click on the continue button 895 or may otherwise indicatecompletion of the web form for registration. The search service mayextract information from the registration web page 800 and may storesuch data in the search database and/or affiliate database 250, 255(FIG. 2).

While the above described registration web page 800 requests the aboveidentified data, it is within the scope of this disclosure for anyinformation to be requested in order to register as a searcher with thesearch system. It is also within the scope of this disclosure for theinformation requested for registration as a searcher to be acquired byother means such as by accessing cookies and information stored on theprospective user's computer system, via a database dump from anaffiliate group database, via etc. One of ordinary skill in the relevantart will immediately recognize that while, text boxes, drop down listsand check boxes are illustrated as being generated on the registrationweb page 800 to facilitate acquisition of required information from thesearcher, other data input structures may be utilized for such purpose.Information such as ethnicity, religious affiliation, institutes ofhigher learning attended, degrees earned, areas of study, etc. may berequested to determine a demographic profile of a searcher(s).

Any information acquired from a prospective searcher(s) in theregistration process may be utilized to populate the fields of theaffiliate group searcher database 240 (FIG. 2).

In one embodiment, the affiliate group may select to have a searchwindow 910 (FIG. 9) driven by the search system 225 (FIG. 2) displayedon the affiliate group's home web page 900. The specific exampleillustrated in FIG. 9 includes the affiliate group web page 900 of anairline which includes a search window 910 that indicates that a queryregarding travel destinations may be submitted directly in a text box920 of the search engine window, which query will be answered by anemployee of the affiliate group. The search engine window also includesan activation button 930 that when selected by the information searchercauses the search system to generate a search page 1000 as shown, forexample, in FIG. 10 to be displayed on the information seeker computersystem 230 (FIG. 2).

Referring to FIG. 10, the search page 1000 generated upon selecting theactivation button 930 (FIG. 9) in the search engine window 910 presentedon an affiliate group's web page (e.g., affiliate group web page 900),includes a plurality of panes and icons. Search page 1000 includes aquery box 1005, a search button 1010, a search with guide button 1015,an affiliate branding icon 1020, a search results window 1025, anadvertising window 1030, a chat window 1035 and a search system brandingicon 1040. When access to the search page is gained by clicking theactivation button 930 in the search window 910 on the affiliate groupweb page 900, the query box 1005 includes the query entered in the querybox 920 on the affiliate group web page 900. By clicking the searchbutton 1010 the information seeker can search without using a registeredsearcher. In one embodiment, search results presented in the searchresults window 1025 when the search is conducted without a guide areresults generated utilizing the resources that have been utilized in thepast by searchers responding to queries containing the same and/orsimilar keywords as is contained in the information seekers currentquery. In one embodiment, when the user clicks the search button 1010,the results presented in the search results window 1025 are resultspresented by registered searchers in response to previous queries withregard to the keywords associated with the current search. The resultsare retrieved from the search database 250 (FIG. 2) which may be asubcomponent of the affiliate group databases 255. If an informationseeker clicks the search button 1010, the chat window 1035 may behidden, as there is no need for chatting with a searcher. In oneembodiment, however, the chat window may be utilized following thesearch button 1010 being clicked in an effort to clarify any ambiguityregarding the keyword or category to which a query relates.

When the search with guide button 1015 is clicked, an information seekermay be presented with a window including information regarding anavailable guide(s) (see FIG. 14) so that the information seeker canselect a specific guide and/or guide profile to answer a query asdescribed above. Alternatively, a searcher who is tasked with respondingto a query may be automatically assigned by the search system 225 (FIG.2) as further described herein. Once a guide(s) is selected or assignedto respond to a query, a guide and the information seeker maycommunicate in real time utilizing the chat window 1035. This real timecommunication may be utilized to clarify any ambiguities in the query orto provide a positive impression of the guide and or the affiliate groupwith which the guide is associated to the information seeker. The guidemay also select advertisements for display in the advertising window orthe advertisements may be selected automatically by the search system225 based on an analysis of the query. The selection of targetedadvertising and the benefits from providing targeted advertising areexplained more fully in U.S. application Ser. No. 11/777,505 previouslymentioned.

Once on the search page 1000, an information seeker can elect to doadditional searching by following links presented in the results window,entering a new query in the query box 1005 or can follow the advertisinglinks presented in the advertising window. In one embodiment, the searchsystem icon 1040 when clicked provides a link to the URL of the searchsystem providers search page, which is similar to the search page shownin FIG. 10 absent the affiliate group icon 1020.

The example of the affiliate group web page 900 (FIG. 9) and theaffiliate group search page 1000 (FIG. 10) described above is an exampleof affiliate group searching wherein the information seekers areunconstrained, i.e. any information seeker navigating to the affiliategroup web page 900 can utilize registered searchers associated with theaffiliate group to aid them in finding results responsive to a query. Inthe above example, in one embodiment, the searchers available for aidingthe information seeker in finding results responsive to their query isconstrained to registered searchers associated with the affiliate group.In an alternative embodiment, of the above example, searchers associatedwith the affiliate group may receive preferential treatment and beassigned the task of responding to the information seekers query whensuch a searcher is available and eligible or qualified to respond to aquery, but other eligible searchers may be assigned to respond to aquery if a searcher associated with the affiliate group is not availableor eligible to respond to a query.

In certain non-illustrated embodiments, the information seekers may befrom a constrained group and the registered searchers available foraiding the information seeker may be from a constrained group. Oneexample of such an embodiment is when an affiliate group dealing withhighly confidential or classified information elects to provide a searchwindow on their affiliate group web page driven by the search providerwhich web page can only be accessed by authorized personnel of theaffiliate group and which only allows registered searchers associatedwith the affiliate group to act as guides in aiding the informationseeker in obtaining a response to their query.

Using the “Audubon Society” (illustrated as affiliate group A 105 (FIG.1)) in the example above, the list of authorized guides in the sampleauthorization record (see FIG. 5) might exclude searcher A1 110 (e.g.,“Bill Birdsong”) from accessing the database of “Rare and Endangered”species. Access might be controlled by creating a separate interestgroup record (see FIG. 3 and FIG. 5A) with a different interest group ID305, or by associating the resource(s) with a keyword which indicatesthat “Bill Birdsong” is not an authorized searcher.

Those of ordinary skill in the relevant art based on the disclosure canreadily envision situations in which the information seekers may beconstrained to information seekers authorized by an affiliate groupwhile the pool of registered searchers is not constrained. For example,an affiliate group might require that users establish a login and/oruser profile in order to utilize the services of the group so thatbetter service might be provided. In this case the affiliate group mightprovide speech-based services, and bill a user according to time used.However, due to the dynamic demand for guides, the affiliate group mightpermit any guide registered to the search system 225 and associated withthe affiliate group to provide services to an information seeker. Usingthe airline example above, an established user profile with creditinformation might be stored in a database of the airline company. Thatinformation might be inaccessible to searchers, but the flightreservation network would be available to any searcher signed-up for the“Delta® Air Lines” affiliate group with preference being given to theemployees, but utilizing other members during peak demand.

In FIG. 11 a method 1100 is provided for recruitment and registration ofmembers of an affiliate group.

When an affiliate group elects to be recognized as an affiliate group bythe search system provider, a server application is activated for theaffiliate group in operation 1105. This application may allow theaffiliate group to establish business rules, perform set-up activities,etc. Control is passed to operation 1110 and method 1100 continues.

In operation 1110 an affiliate group system administrator may provideinformation regarding affiliate members for the affiliate groupdatabases 255 (FIG. 2). This may include e-mail, IM credentials, mobiledevice contact parameters (e.g., phone number, etc.), personal websiteURL, or other contact information for group members. Further, theaffiliate group may provide authentication information, authorizationinformation, search result(s), query information, resource accessinformation, training materials, keyword/category data, rating data,etc. which may be stored in the search and/or affiliate databases 250,255. Control is passed to operation 1115 and method 1100 continues.

In operation 1115 an e-mail (or other suitable notification) is sent toaffiliate group members notifying them to register. Such a notificationmay for example contain a link to a registration web page such as theregistration page 800 (FIG. 8) and may contain a cookie and/or otherindicia that the affiliate group is to be considered as a sponsor of asearcher who registers with the search system utilizing a link in thenotification. Notification might take other forms, such as IM as furtherdescribed in the related U.S. application Ser. No. 11/647,309 entitled,“Instant Message Notification of Service Providers”, by Jones, et al.,filed Dec. 29, 2006 which is incorporated herein by reference.Designation as a sponsor may entitle an affiliate group to receivecompensation based on activities of searchers whom they sponsor. Thisaspect of the disclosure is particularly useful in generating revenuesfor the affiliate group and provides an incentive for affiliate groupsto elect to be registered as such by the search system provider(s).Control is passed to operation 1120 and method 1100 continues.

In operation 1120, a determination is made as to whether an affiliategroup member elects to register as a searcher with the search system 225(FIG. 2), for example, by clicking on a link provided in the invitationnotification to direct the affiliate group member web browser to aregistration page. If it is determined that an affiliate does not electto register, method 1100 continues to wait. If it is determined that anaffiliate does elect to register as a guide, control is passed tooperation 1125 and method 1100 continues.

In operation 1125, an affiliate group member may access a registrationpage of the search system. An affiliate desiring to register as asearcher is prompted to enter a user ID, username, and/or password,etc., which may be based on information in for example the searcherusername field 415 and/or the searcher verification code field 420 of aninterest group searcher record (see FIG. 4) or alternately in theauthorized searcher(s) ID, authorized searcher(s) username, and/orauthorized searcher(s) password fields 525, 530, 535 of an authorizationrecord (see FIG. 5) associated with the interest group ID assigned tothe affiliate group.

In operation 1135 a determination is made as to whether theauthentication information provided by the affiliate is valid based uponauthentication information, for example, provided by the affiliate groupadministrator, such as in operation 1110. If in operation 1135 it isdetermined that valid authentication information has been presentedcontrol is passed to operation 1145 and method 1100 continues. If it isdetermined in operation 1135 that the information is not valid, controlis passed to operation 1120 and method 1100 continues.

The determination of invalid authentication credentials in operation1135 may be based on multiple conditions. For example, if the system 225times-out waiting for the affiliate to take action, the databases mayreflect this and simply return to wait for another request to registerto be received. In another case, the system may detect that the numberof attempts to validate credentials has exceeded a threshold countallowed by the system. The system 225 may bar a username from accessingthe affiliate group until action is taken by system and/or affiliategroup administrator(s) based on the update to the databases 250, 255.

In operation 1145 an affiliate group member may provide information tocreate and/or enhance a profile associated with the searcher. Control ispassed to operation 1147 and method 1100 continues.

In operation 1147 a determination is made whether a searcher hasindicated completion of registration. If it is determined that asearcher has indicated completion of the registration process, thesearch database 250 and the affiliate databases 250 are updated, controlis passed to operation 1150 and method 1100 continues. If it isdetermined in operation 1145 that a searcher has not completedregistration, the databases 250, 255 are updated, control is passed tooperation 1125 and method 1100 continues. The determination ofincomplete registration in operation 1147 may be made according toconditions defined by the system provider(s), such as the registrantterminating a session, exceeding a preset time limit, etc.

In operation 1150, the search system 225 updates the databases 250, 255with the provided information and generates a user profile for theaffiliate member who is now considered a registered searcher. The searchsystem may generate a welcome e-mail and/or other notificationcontaining a link to download a guide application to the newlyregistered searcher associated with the affiliate group. Control ispassed to operation 1155 and method 1100 continues.

In operation 1155 a newly registered searcher associated with anaffiliate group may download an application such as the ChaCha® GuideApplication and may be directed to a profile page. The newly registeredsearcher is then available to provide a search result(s) to informationseekers in response to queries for which they have requested a guideassociated with the affiliate group. Control is then passed to operation1105 wherein an affiliate group administrator may provide furtherinformation for registration of affiliate group members.

An exemplary GUI for a user and/or guide to select an affiliate group isillustrated in FIG. 12. The GUI 1200 includes an advertising window1205, an interest group selection menu 1210, action buttons 1215, aninterest group rating and/or membership indicator window 1220, agraphics window 1225, a query box 1230, and a system identifier 1235.

The advertising window 1205 may be used to present any form ofadvertising which has been determined to be suitable based oninformation preferably associated with a query. The advertising window1205 may include advertisements associated with one or more of theavailable affiliate groups, to promote the services of the affiliate.Advertisements may be based upon profile data selected in the interestgroup selection menu 1210, information related to the query the querybox 1230, or any other information available to the search system 225.

The interest group selection menu may 1210 may include a list ofavailable affiliate search groups and other controls for selection of anaffiliate group by a user and/or guide. For example, the selection boxesmight be drop-down menus which could allow the guide and/or user toselect a profile, a list of categories and/or keywords, etc., to allowselection of a relevant interest group for investigation and/or use.

The action buttons 1215 may be used by an information seeker to acceptor cancel the option to select an affiliate search group. Likewise theaction buttons may be used by a guide to indicate a request to become amember of the designated interest group, or to cancel such a request.

The interest group rating and/or membership indicator window 1220 maycontain information regarding a selected affiliate group(s). Forexample, a count of groups available for a given query and/or profilemight be displayed. Alternately a drop-down menu might list the interestgroups, respective ratings, exemplary result(s), etc.

The graphics window 1125 may be used to present graphical data regardingrelationships between affiliate groups. Comparisons of selected interestgroups based on criteria such as queries handled, ratings of results,number of members, relationships between members of the selectedinterest group and other groups (e.g., common members), etc.

The query box 1230 may contain an original query submitted by aninformation seeker, or may contain a query entered by a guide in orderlocate a relevant interest group to join. The query box may furtherallow the guide and/or the information seeker to refine the query asfurther described in the related U.S. application Ser. No. 11/777,505previously mentioned.

The system identifier 1235 may optionally appear to identify the systemprovider and/or the user and/or the guide and/or affiliate group asillustrated.

An exemplary GUI 1300 for a user to select an interest group based upona query is illustrated in FIG. 13.

The GUI 1300 may contain a query box 1310, an interest group list box1320, action buttons 1330, an auto selection button 1340, an advertisingwindow 1350, and a system message window 1360.

The query box 1310 may contain a query entered by an information seeker.The query box may allow a user to modify an original query as previouslydescribed with respect to FIG. 12.

The interest group list box 1320 may contain the identifier of a targetinterest group. It may further comprise a drop-down list of alternateaffiliate groups available for the query. It may further display or opena window listing more detailed information of available interest groups.

The action buttons 1330 allow the user to take actions based oninformation presented in the GUI 1300. For example, the “accept” buttonmight trigger selection of the target interest group to respond to aquery. The “change” button might allow a user to access a more detailedselection GUI such as that described with respect to FIG. 12. The“cancel” button may allow an Infoseeker™ to restore the original data inthe GUI 1300 and discard any modifications. While certain functions havebeen described, including alternate action buttons or the equivalentwill be immediately obvious to one of ordinary skill in the relevantart.

The auto selection button 1340 allows the user to decline to select aninterest group and allows the system 225 (FIG. 2) to make the selectioneven if the option is offered to the user.

The advertising window 1350 may present various types of material to theuser as previously described. Multiple advertising windows may beincluded in the GUI 1300.

The system message window 1360 may allow the system to send any messageto the user, regarding topics such as user ID, system ID, etc.

An exemplary searcher selection GUI 1400 is presented in FIG. 14.

The searcher selection GUI 1400 operates similarly to the interest groupselection GUI 1300. The GUI 1400 may be used to select a specificsearcher. In a preferred embodiment, the searcher and the user remainanonymous, as further described in the related U.S. application Ser. No.11/779,502 entitled, “Anonymous Search System Using Human Searchers”, byJones, et al., filed Jul. 18, 2007 incorporated herein by reference.

The GUI 1400 may contain a query box 1410, a searcher list box 1420,action buttons 1430, an auto selection button 1440, an advertisingwindow 1450, and a system message window 1460.

The query box 1410 may contain a query entered by the informationseeker. The query box may allow a user to modify an original query aspreviously described with respect to FIG. 12.

The searcher list box 1420 may contain the identifier of a targetsearcher. It may further comprise a drop-down list of alternatesearchers available or eligible for the query. It may further display oropen a window listing more detailed information of available searchers.

The action buttons 1430 allow the user to take actions based oninformation presented in the GUI 1400. For example, the “accept” buttonmight trigger selection of the target searcher to respond to a query.The “change” button might allow the user to access a more detailedselection GUI such as that described with respect to FIG. 12. The“cancel” button may allow an Infoseeker™ to restore the original data inthe GUI 1400 and discard any modifications. While these functions havebeen described alternate action buttons or the equivalent will beimmediately obvious to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art.

The auto selection button 1440 allows the user to decline to select asearcher and allows the system 225 (FIG. 2) to make the selection evenif the option is offered to the user.

The advertising window 1450 may present various types of material to theuser as previously described. Multiple advertising windows may beincluded in the GUI 1400.

The system message window 1460 may allow the system to send any messageto the user, regarding topics such as user ID, system ID, etc.

Any or all of the elements of the GUI 1200, 1300, 1400 may alternatelybe suppressed in the display to reduce visual overload. Alternately,additional elements may be included in GUIs 1200, 1300, 1400 to allowfor adequate user options

An exemplary guide or user login GUI is illustrated in FIG. 15

The GUI 1500 may be presented to a guide or user when authenticationinformation is required. The GUI may contain a username entry box 1510,a password entry box 1520, a login button 1540, and a cancel button1550.

The username entry box 1510 allows a user and/or guide to enter ausername for purposes of authentication. The password box 1520 allows auser and/or guide to enter a password or other information, such as asecure token ID or other one-time use item, activate biometric inputs,etc. as is well known in the published art.

The login button 1540 allows the user and/or guide to indicatecompletion of the authentication input process. The cancel button 1550allows the user and/or guide to exit the GUI 1500 without attempting alogin or verification of credentials.

The embodiments herein disclose a system and methods for providingaffiliate group based search services. In various embodiments the systemenables the users and/or the guides to be under authorization control,which may be useful not only for the applications described herein, butfor any such applications wherein groups of human workers/searchers mayprovide information to information seekers/users. The embodiments hereinmay be applied to diverse system and businesses with such requirements.

After being presented with the disclosure herein, one of ordinary skillin the art will realize that the embodiments can be implemented insoftware, firmware, and/or a combination thereof. Program code accordingto the embodiments can be implemented in any viable programminglanguages such as C, C++, HTML, XHTML, JAVA or any other viablehigh-level programming language, or a combination of a high-levelprogramming language and a lower level programming language.

The embodiments can also be in the form of a computer readable storageencoded with processing instructions for controlling a computer toimplement the methods described herein according to embodiments.

The embodiments should not be limited to the embodiments describedherein. After being presented with the disclosure herein, those ofordinary skill in the art would appreciate that changes may be made tothe disclosed embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe embodiments.

1. A method for providing interest group searching, comprising:designating an affiliate group for providing information searching; andpresenting search results produced by a member of the affiliate group.2. The method of claim 1, wherein the designation includes a userselection of a desired affiliate group.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the designation includes a system selection of an interestgroup.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the system selection includes:prompting an information seeker for a query; analyzing the query withkeywords/categories of affiliate groups; and selecting an affiliategroup based on the analyzing.
 5. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising, after said designating: comparing identifying informationentered by an information seeker desiring to obtain search results fromthe affiliate group with stored identifying information of informationseekers to determine whether access to the group should be allowed. 6.The method of claim 1, further comprising, after said designating:verifying a presence of a predetermined software application on acomputing device operated by an information seeker desiring to obtainsearch results from the affiliate group.
 7. The method of claim 1,further comprising, after said accepting, allowing selection of aspecific searcher of said affiliate group.
 8. The method of claim 1,further comprising comparing identifying information entered by asearcher before performing a search for a query with stored identifyinginformation of searchers to determine whether the searcher should beallowed to conduct the search.
 9. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising, after said presenting, prompting for and receiving a ratingof said member.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising, aftersaid presenting, performing a rating calculation for said member. 11.The method of claim 1, further comprising, after said presenting,performing a rating calculation for said affiliate group.
 12. The methodof claim 1, further comprising, before said designating, recognizingsaid affiliate group by the search system provider.
 13. The method ofclaim 12, wherein said recognizing includes registering the affiliatemembers of the affiliate group.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein saidregistering includes comparing authentication information entered by theaffiliate member with stored authentication information to determinewhether the affiliate member is allowed to register with the group. 15.The method of claim 13, wherein said registering includes receivingadditional personal information entered by the affiliate member.
 16. Themethod of claim 13, wherein said registering includes generating a userprofile.
 17. The method of claim 13, further comprising sending theaffiliate member a notification with an application link.
 18. The methodof claim 13, further comprising allowing the affiliate member todownload an application and launch a profile.
 19. A computer-readablestorage including instructions for causing a computer to provideinterest group searching by: accepting designation of an affiliate groupfor providing information searching; and presenting search resultsproduced by a member of the affiliate group.
 20. An information searchsystem for providing interest group searching performed by humansearchers, comprising: at least one searcher computer system performinga search in response to a query performed by an information seeker; atleast one search system receiving notification that interest groupsearching is desired, presenting a list of interest groups withspecialty and rating, receiving selection of a desired interest group,prompting for and receiving a username and password from an informationseeker, comparing the username and password with a stored username andpassword, and accepting a query from the information seeker; at leastone information seeker interface by which selection of an interest groupoccurs; an interest group database including an interest groupidentifier (id) field, an interest group rating field, a searchspecialty field, an assigned searchers field, and a keywords andcategories field to which the group is assigned; an interest groupsearcher database including a searcher id field, an interest group idfield, a searcher username field, a searcher verification code field, asearcher rating field, and an other related interest groups field; andan authorized information seekers database including an interest groupid field, an authorized user id field, an authorized user usernamefield, and an authorized user password field.
 21. The method of claim 7,wherein said selection may be made without revealing personallyidentifying information of said searcher.
 22. The method of claim 12,wherein said recognizing includes receiving information of saidaffiliate group.
 23. The method of claim 23, wherein said informationincludes one or more of authorization information, resource accessinformation, demographic information, geographic information, andtraining information.
 24. A computer readable storage for controlling acomputer including a interest group record, comprising: a groupidentification field; a searcher identification field; and a relatedkeywords field.
 25. A computer readable storage for controlling acomputer including a interest group searcher record, comprising: asearcher identification field; a interest group identification field; asearcher demographics field; and a searcher specialty field.
 26. Acomputer readable storage for controlling a computer including ainterest group authorization record, comprising: a interest groupidentification field; a authorized users field; and a authorizedsearcher field.
 27. An interface comprising; a field displaying a query;a field displaying a list of interest groups associated with the query;a control to select/reject an interest group.
 28. An interfacecomprising; a field displaying a query; a field displaying a list ofsearchers associated with the query; a control to select/reject asearcher.
 29. An interface comprising; a control to identify anaffiliate group; a field displaying a list of queries answered by anidentified group; a control to select/reject an affiliate group.
 30. Theinterface according to claim 27, wherein the list is displayed in anorder based on one of rating, advertising agreement, and availability.31. The interface according to claim 28, wherein the list is displayedin an order based on one of rating, advertising, and availability. 32.The interface according to claim 29, wherein the identifying controlcomprises a list of characteristics based on one of an affiliateprofile, and a user profile.